MAC's Frosted Fireworks was already a fun collection, but they managed to sneak in an artist collab in their holiday lineup too. And amazingly, the artist actually responded to my interview request and kindly answered my questions! We'll get to that in a minute, but to see how Bob Jordan's beautiful designs fit in to MAC's holiday collection, we'll take a quick peek at those objects first.
I picked up the eyeshadow in Silver Bells, highlighter in Let It Glow, highlighting palette, lipstick in Once Bitten, Ice Shy, lip gloss in Set Me Off and the Firelit Kit. Maybe it's because I always have the '90s on the brain, but Frosted Fireworks seemed straight out of 1996 or thereabouts to my eye – both the finishes and retro star patterns are reminiscent of the second half of the decade's obsession with frost and penchant for kitschy takes on MCM designs.
And now for something very special! Here's my interview with Brooklyn-based graphic designer and artist Bob Jordan, who created the bright and exuberant designs for MAC. Bob has a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Maine College of Art. He founded his design firm, Factory 808 Designs, in 2014. While he had never made cosmetics packaging before, I think he absolutely nailed the MAC collection. I'm so pleased to have some of his work in the Museum and hope to see more makeup creations from him.
MM: Tell me a little bit about your background. Were you always interested in art? How did you end up in graphic design?
Bob: I grew up in my grandfather’s woodshop helping him out. He taught me how to solve problems and think creatively. When I was a teenager, I realized I could draw. Those two things became the foundation for everything I do now. I got into design because it allowed me to be multi-disciplinary in my creative approach. There are a lot of mediums I like to work with and I use them all in my projects. Most importantly, I get to draw. It doesn’t matter what I’m working, everything starts with a pencil and paper.
MM: Who or what influences your work? What other artists and designers do you admire?
Bob: My first influence -and still favorite- is Chuck Close. I’ve always loved his use of color and shape in his compositions. I admire his resilience and his determination to continue to create his art even as a quadriplegic. I have a lot of respect for his process. I also love Sister Corita Kent. She was a pop art nun who fought for social justice causes and was also a teacher at Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. Most people would know her as the LOVE stamp designer from the 1980’s. Her 10 rules for Students and Teachers is timeless.
(image from cbsnews.com)
My other major influence is my home and community in Brooklyn. I am inspired daily just by simply walking outside. You get to see both known and unknown artists' work here. There’s a particular energy that resonates with me. Obviously it's tough to look into the future, but I know that it will always be a huge influence on my work.
MM: How did the collaboration with MAC happen? Did you approach them or vice versa?
Bob: The collaboration with MAC was very organic in its development. The head of digital at MAC as she is constantly on the hunt for collaborating with local NY designers on product and packaging design. Discussions began before COVID and went in the summer. It was some thing that we waited for the right time to do.
MM: What was the process like? Did they give you free reign or any sort of direction?
Bob: This process was a pretty open. There was a some seasonal themes and color ways that it needed to adhere to but there was a considerable amount of freedom. I’ve always found these types projects to be very difficult but the most rewarding.
MM: What inspired you to create the designs you did? What was your vision for the collection?
I was someone would had left the city during COVID and spent 9 months in the woods. It was a humbling experience and it allowed me to focus on some other projects but I was also missing the vibrance of the city. I had to come back and just walk around and soak up all the colors and energy. I would walk around during the day and then draw at night. I did that over and over til I found where I needed to be.
MM: How was the experience designing makeup packaging different than other projects you've worked on?
Bob: Designing for makeup packaging is not that different from some of my other work. I design a lot of packaging for cannabis products and there are many similarities. A lot of it is actually makeup packaging that is used so I’m used to working on small products. This was actually a lot easier because I just had to focus on the art and didn’t have to worry about any state regulations.
MM: Would you work with a cosmetics company again?
Bob: This was actually my first experience working with one, the opportunity to work with one just hadn’t come up in the past. I would definitely consider working with a cosmetics company again, but as with any project, I would need to make sure it's the right fit.
MM: Please share any thoughts you might have on makeup packaging or cosmetics in general.
Bob: I really hope that makeup packaging becomes more sustainable and minimalistic. I feel that way about all packaging. Working on cannabis packaging has really opened my eyes about how much packaging waste there is. I love designing packaging and I want to make sure that I’m doing my part. I would love to connect with cosmetics and any other companies whose mission it is to create sustainable products. That's the future. It has to be.
Bob, thank you so much for talking with the Makeup Museum! This was certainly enlightening and so interesting to hear the details behind this collection. And for Museum visitors, which piece is your favorite? I love both but I think the Peace design is my preference.
I was hoping to post about Bobbi Brown's collaboration from this past spring, a partnership with British artist Morag Myerscough, but I realized I never got around to writing about an Asia-exclusive collab from last year so I'm covering that first. In the spring of 2019 the brand teamed up with Korean-born, New York-based artist Yoon Hyup, whose abstract urban landscapes, appropriately enough, have been created and displayed in cities across the globe. For Bobbi Brown's cushion compacts the artist made three designs: New York Skyline (Manhattan), Spread Love (depicting the Brooklyn Bridge) and Band of Light (representing Times Square).
Hyup (b. 1982) was born and raised in Seoul. He began what would become a lifelong love affair with skateboarding and skate culture at the age of 9.
While skateboarding is a key inspiration for his work – his lines and dots represent how he feels when skateboarding (like "flowing water", he says), music remains his primary influence. He studied violin for most of his childhood, getting scolded for improvising during lessons. As a teenager Hyup discovered hip-hop and graffiti magazines at a nearby U.S. naval base, further feeding his appetite for skate culture, music and art. In college he started out studying graphic design as he wanted to design skateboards, but quickly realized he enjoyed painting more. One night at a party a DJ asked him to paint while he spun, and for Hyup, there was no turning back. He has painted to music ever since. "From the early 2000’s, a hip hop party called “Afroking Party” was getting popular in Seoul. I would hang with DJs, MCs, B-Boys, skaters, writers and photographers there. It was the first place where I exhibited my artworks and perform live painting. A DJ crew wanted me to paint live while he performed his set, a mix hip hop, funk, disco, we’d perform all night. That was when I was 23 or 24 years old, and then I met more and more people, they would learn about me and ask me to do more paintings. I started to use lines and dots when I performed live painting, because I wanted to express something quick while DJ Soulscape and DJ Plastic Kid were spinning." Hyup listens to a variety of jazz, hip-hop, funk, soul and disco. To get an idea of what such a mix sounds like, you check out one of his playlists here.
Hyup likens his improvisational process to jazz or rap. For larger projects he sketches the overall structure, but generally does not draw beforehand. "I don’t sketch when I paint. If I need to sketch, I would only put the big structure. Other than this, I only do with free-hands on canvas or wall paintings without sketches. It may be similar to a jazz performance which only has a plan but plays impromptu. It’s similar feeling from listening improvisational music, funk or freestyle rap. When I skate, I feel rhythm and flow…I like to express these feelings with lines and dots."
Hyup's forté is vibrant city life, but he is equally adept at representing more calming scenes, such as tropical vistas and clouds. And while he cites American graffiti artists such as Futura, Lee Quinones and Mark Gonzales, along with Jean-Michel Basquiat and designer Don Pendleton as influences (I'd add Mondrian to the list), Hyup also reinterprets elements of traditional Korean art. Paintings of clouds, along with the use of obangsaek – five colors associated with the cardinal directions – are the artist's way of paying homage to his cultural heritage. "Many traditional Korean forms, such as vine clouds and wind clouds, surface in my paintings. I often paint with the five colors associated with my native country – red, blue, yellow, black and white. This color palette can be found in many things that relate to Korean culture, such as art, dress, and the painting for architecture. I use those colors to pay honor to my roots. I also find other colorways from nature and things around me."
Hyup's work generally consists of cityscapes, but occasionally his playfulness shines through via characters from pop culture. I'm delighted with these portraits of Cookie Monster and the Pillsbury Dough Boy! Fun fact: I was obsessed with the Pillsbury Dough Boy when I was little and have a decent collection of memorabilia. I'd love to see Pills on a shirt, similar to the Mickey Mouse ones Hyup made for Uniqlo.
Also, how precious is this holiday wonderland he created in Shanghai last year?
As for the collab with Bobbi, I'm not sure how it came about or why Hyup decided to partner with the company. (I emailed to request an interview but never heard back, sadly.) "I collaborate when I already know the brand well enough or when it naturally happens. Honestly, I haven't had to think about a brand I want to collaborate with because luckily, clients have always come to me and proposed collaborations. Sometimes I don't do it when I don't understand the brand well enough or it doesn't fit well with my style," he says. A cosmetics collaboration doesn't seem like it would align with the artist's interests, especially given his previous work for sportswear and apparel stores located in urban locations, like Nike's Gangnam headquarters and the Rag and Bone store in Soho.
This mural centers on the number 23, worn by basketball star Michael Jordan.
Hyup also designed the cover art for a CD box set for Ella Fitzgerald in honor of the singer's 1ooth birthday in 2017, which was fitting given jazz's influence on his process.
So makeup seems a little out of left field. I also can't figure out why only the city of New York was featured on the compacts, as these were Asia-exclusive…it would have made a bit more sense to include Seoul as well. Perhaps it's Hyup's love for NYC that propelled the focus on New York. In any case, I believe all three of the designs were new for Bobbi Brown, but there are similarities. Here's Rooftop Jam (2019) and Spread Love (2014) – the latter has the same name as the cushion compact showing the Brooklyn Bridge.
While I'd still like to unravel the mystery of the collaboration's origin, I enjoyed this collection nevertheless. Hyup's improvisational method perfectly captures the frenetic pace of cities, and I don't think his work would have the same effect if he painted without music. And New York is always magical so if they had to focus on any one city I'm glad it was the Big Apple.
What do you think? Which case is your favorite? Mine is Band of Light. I don't like to actually visit Times Square in person, but this image is so vibrant I can practically hear its pulse.
Back in January I announced that I'd like to start a new blog series on artist collaborations I want to see. What better way to kick it off than with Black artists? Now, I knew that there weren't as many Black artist collabs as white or even other POC, but it wasn't until I actually went through the Museum's archives that I realized just how dire the situation is. I counted 122 artist collabs from 2009 until now*, including some I haven't covered yet, and of those there were only FOUR Black artists: Kendra Dandy for Anthropologie (which seems rather sad now), Nikki Farquharson for Benefit and MAC, Bradley Theodore for RMK, and Basquiat for both Urban Decay and Addiction. That's 3%. Yes, three percent. The majority were white artists (71 or 58%) and the biggest group of non-white artists were Japanese (23 or 19%). So, to paraphrase Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Black Artist Collabs?" Here we have another example of how racism permeates literally every aspect of our culture. The art market is largely white, and we already know about the issues in the beauty industry.
It is my hope that this post will increase the visibility of some very talented Black artists who should absolutely have a chance at working with makeup brands, if they would like to, of course – not all artists would welcome having their work used this way. But I chose them because in researching them and sifting through interviews I have a hunch they'd be open to a makeup collaboration. It certainly is not my intention to speak for them, as I'm just trying to celebrate Black artists, raise awareness that their voices are once again being excluded and that makeup collaborations are a great way to bring their work to a wider audience.
This is just a start…I'm only including five artists for now, but stay tuned for more selections. ;) And these are incredibly brief bios and descriptions of their work – if any of them end up doing a collaboration, I will definitely go more in-depth.
The artist: Dana Bly
The brand: Fenty
Why: Illustrator Dana Bly's vibrant, bold depictions of modern Black women would be perfectly suited to Rihanna's makeup line. It was Bly's choice of lipstick hues that made me immediately think Fenty would be a good match.
Bly has a background in graphic design and launched her own lifestyle and home decor brand, Pardon My Fro, in 2010 shortly after getting laid off. Talk about turning a crisis into an opportunity! Currently her store stocks comforters, shower curtains and face masks, and so I think she'd be enthusiastic about entering the beauty sphere. "I get my inspiration from everyday life, fashion, TV, patterns and bold colors. I love sharing my art and love when people 'get' my art and share on social media."
The artist: Carrie Mae Weems
The brand: NARS
Why: I love NARS both to use – the blushes are iconic for a reason – and for their artist collaborations. I don't mean to pick on them, but given the number of collabs they've done it's rather inexcusable that they haven't featured a single Black artist. Considering Mr. Nars's passion for photography and his aesthetic, I think the work of Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953) would be a fantastic match. While NARS is not a Black-owned brand, it would behoove them to finally work with a Black artist. I think this image from the Kitchen Table series (1990) would be especially appropriate. Says the New York Times, "It’s the series that made her career and inspired a new generation of artists who had never before seen a woman of color looking confidently out at them from a museum wall, and for whom Weems’s work represented the first time an African-American woman could be seen reflecting her own experience and interiority in her art."
While Black representation wasn't necessarily the driving force for the series or even her work in general, Weems acknowledges that it can be interpreted as such. "That there are so few images of African-American women circulating in popular culture or in fine art is disturbing; the pathology behind it is dangerous. [But] I insist on making work that includes us as part of the greater whole. Black experience is not really the main point; rather, complex, dimensional, human experience and social inclusion—even in the shit, muck, and mire—is the real point." Weems also points out how white male artists frequently fail to depict Black women in any meaningful way. So maybe this could be an opportunity for a white man like Nars to champion a Black woman artist's work.
Lest you think Weems' aesthetic might not quite lend itself to NARS' high-fashion concepts, please see these images of Mary J. Blige for W magazine. I can only imagine what she would come up with for a makeup collection.
Finally, while at first I didn't think Weems might be interested in having her work on makeup packaging, it looks like she did collaborate with Helmut Lang on a small capsule collection, with 15% of the proceeds donated to Weems' charity, Social Studies 101. NARS could (and should!) follow this example.
Why: Emmett McBain (1935-2012) is one of the few Black Mid-Century Modern designers I was able to find. Given that there were so few and how innovative his work was, McBain's name should be just as common as Paul Rand. If he were alive today I'd think he'd be interested in makeup collaboration, given that he did some work for SkinFood, Guerlain and Neutrogena. Plus, makeup actually doesn't seem too far off base when you consider McBain was responsible for directing campaigns for everything from jazz albums to the Ford Mustang to McDonald's.
Based in Chicago, in 1956 McBain joined Vince Cullers Advertising, the first Black-owned ad agency, after graduating from the American Academy of Art. He established his own agency, McBain Associates, in 1959, and after returning to Vince Cullers in 1968 as art director, in 1971 he co-founded Burrell McBain, Inc., with fellow black designer and copywriter Tom Burrell. But what makes McBain stand out besides his design skills is his desire to elevate the Black community. As Lilly Smith, editor of Design Observer notes, "[What] made him important to history beyond design was his assertion through ads to the general public that 'black is beautiful.'" Adds former colleague McGhee Osse, "He was very much an enthusiast and advocate for the African-American community and culture. Much of his work uplifted the community by reflecting the true identity of a people—whether on canvas or in national ads." Concludes Smith, "And so it must have been a revelation to look onto the page of a magazine and not be told to buy a product in order to look like someone else, but to continue to look like you."
McBain's outlook is perfectly suited to Mented's goal, which is to fill the gap for Black and other POC the beauty industry considers an afterthought. The founders explained to Essence that POC were not seeing themselves in most makeup lines' advertising or color offerings. Some BIPOC want natural looks instead of bright colors. While I personally prefer a bolder approach, I acknowledge the need for more neutral makeup from time to time, and it's an area that was lacking for BIPOC until Mented was established. "Women of color are often backed into the 'bold' corner when it comes to beauty, because so many brands don’t really know what to do with deeper skin tones other than drape them in bright, fierce colors. I love a bold look as much as the next girl, but that’s not my everyday. Women of color deserve soft, natural, every day beauty looks just as much as Caucasian women, and Mented exists to fill that gap…For every holographic and glitter trend, there are basic products missing for women of color. The industry has forgotten about the almost 40% of US women who aren’t white. Relegating deeper skin tones to the last three unflattering shades in a product assortment is unfair and ridiculous." Representing an everyday BIPOC – not an "influencer", not a model sporting the latest color trends – but rather someone who prefers a more natural look, was the primary reason for starting the brand. Like McBain, Mented aims to relate to Black and other POC through providing ads and shades that are intended to show that one doesn't have to meet white beauty ideals or obscure their features through bright colors; Black and other POC are allowed to exist just as they are, perhaps with a little enhancement from makeup that was specifically formulated for them. "With a website that offers a range of nude lip products and nail polishes for women of color, Mented Cosmetics has truly come to master the beauty needs of their consumer, who [founders] Miller and Johnson affectionately refer to as 'our girl.' 'We think of ‘our girl’ as our friend, ourselves. We’re making [beauty products] for ourselves, and our friends and our family and we want everyone to feel a part of that,' Johnson said." Sounds a bit like the community-building McBain focused on in his later years by providing design services for non-commercial endeavors, including "a journal of African diaspora thought and a local organization supporting the re-integration of former inmates into Chicago's southside community."
As McBain passed away in 2012, existing work would need to be used. Here are the images I'd like to see on packaging, starting with some fantastic jazz album covers. How much fun would these be on some blushes?
“Black is Beautiful,” c. 1968: Ad for Vince Cullers Advertising, Inc., creative direction by Emmett McBain.
This last image is an add for cigarettes, which I cropped out. By itself on a palette, I think it would be amazing. They also fit with Mented's mission to create products for a more natural look for BIPOC.
True Advertisement, 1968: Ad for Lorillard Tobacco Company’s True menthol cigarettes, Vince Culler Advertising
(Skinfood ad and these last 2 images are from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Richard J. Daley Library, Special Collections and University Archives via designobserver.com)
The artist: Lois Mailou Jones
The brand: Uoma Beauty
Why: Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998) was a Boston-born painter whose style underwent a significant shift after visiting various African countries. After graduating from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Massachusetts College of Art in 1927, Jones pursued a career in textile design. But she realized that textile pattern makers were never credited for their work, so she pivoted to painting so that she would have a way to sign her work and make her name visible. In 1970 she made her first trip to Africa, visiting 11 African countries with a grant from Howard University to document artists. She returned to the continent several more times in the 1970s. "Inspired by what she saw and [merged] with the flat graphics and image sampling of Pop art", Jones's later work showed the profound impact of her travels to the continent.
So what's the makeup angle? Jones' mother ran a beauty parlor, and Gucci Beauty shared one of her works on their Instagram account. I think both of those are signs that her work would be a great fit for a makeup collection. I chose Uoma for the brand since the founder, Sharon Chuter, was born in Nigeria and the brand regularly pays homage to Chuter's heritage through both their packaging and color offerings. Even the company's name means "beautiful" in Igbo, the principal language spoken by people in southeastern Nigeria, and the brand's first campaign photo shoot took place in Lagos.
As with McBain, Jones is deceased so existing works would be used. These are just the few I picked out online but there are 3 books of her work, including an extensive exhibition catalogue so I'd definitely look for images that aren't seen as often. And I'd seek out ones that are based on her trips to Nigeria in particular. I need to remind myself that Africa is not a monolith.
Why: L.A.-based multidisciplinary artist Laci Jordan is strongly committed to diversity and representation. "I want to see art that includes people that look like me, so I create it. My work is inspired by black people and black culture. Because I’m a black millennial a lot of my work comes from that lens and voice…I also believe that by being a visible black millennial I bring visibility to the rest of us," she explains to Forbes in a 2018 interview.
But it's not just about race for Jordan. She emphasizes the necessity of diverse perspectives for cultural and social advancement. "When you have different types of people in the room, you have different ideas that can help you build a bigger picture of whatever you are creating. It’s not just about race. It’s having people from different disciplines, different sexuality, different everything at the table. It’s about representation. Having different conversations and points of view. People see that if you have diversity at the table it just makes everything better. People want to see different stories…women of color from all types of backgrounds and women in general can relate to the art…I realized that even though I’m creating through a certain lens it can touch and relate to people of different backgrounds."
The reason I think her work would be a perfect fit for Coloured Raine was the brand's description and mission. Founded by Loraine R. Dowdy in 2013, Coloured Raine's vision aligns with Jordan's in terms of the commitment to diversity across all areas and not just race. "Loraine longed for a cosmetic line that encouraged self-expression and diversity, and included shades for people of color. Her aim was to create a stand-out cosmetics line that broke all beauty barriers.The mission behind the brand has always been to spread awareness of diversity through beauty and to embrace all aspects of color through unity. Loraine has always had a deep and intense love for color, and strongly believes that makeup is a toy for everyone to enjoy – which can be used to express oneself. A belief in all things beauty, with no stipulations on color, age, and gender is what sets Coloured Raine apart."
Laci previously partnered with Air Jordan and reflects fondly on her opportunity to mentor young girls while working with the brand. "Along with designing customization merchandise for the space, Air Jordan held a women’s event where I helped mentor young girls and inspire them to be creative. Not only was the project a dream but I was able to give back in the process."
When I was gathering the images for this post I came across an illustration Jordan completed for a collection that was sold at Ulta last fall. As with the Air Jordan collab and Weems' partnership with Helmut Lang, the collection was intended to give back to the community. In collaboration with Essence magazine, Ulta introduced a new mentoring initiative, Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities. Six girls worked to "create an exclusive capsule collection for Ulta Beauty, and hear from ESSENCE and Ulta Beauty mentors, as well as influencers and brand founders. Using their creativity and love for beauty, they will learn from the best and receive $10,000 that can be used for college.” Jordan designed the packaging for the collection and also served as a mentor in their web series.
So while I just purchased the palette on ebay (it slipped through my radar last fall, given everything I was dealing with), I think another collab with Coloured Raine can't hurt. ;) And Jordan is a huge Rihanna fan, so a Fenty collab would be appropriate, but I still believe Coloured Raine is the best fit given that their perspectives on diversity are so similar.
What do you think of my picks? Which one do you want to see the most? And what do you think about the idea of charitable contributions through artist collaborations?
*The ones I counted are traditional visual artists (painters, photographers, illustrators, etc.), not fashion designers, makeup artists or bands/musicians.
Normally I'd wait a whole year and do a Ghosts of Christmas Makeup Past post to be more seasonally appropriate, but I simply couldn't in the case of the amazing (mer-mazing?) Mikimoto holiday collection. As with the 2018 collection, the historic Japanese pearl and jewelry purveyor teamed up with an artist to create some incredibly whimsical underwater-themed packaging. Belgian artist and illustrator Brecht Evens had the honor of being Mikimoto's second artist collaboration. I must admit I think I like his concept even more than the one by Emmanuel Pierre in 2018. If imagery of celebratory mermaids and assorted mer-critters having the ultimate holiday party doesn't do anything for you, I question your humanity.
We'll start with the palettes. The details on everything are staggeringly clever. And while the mishmash of characters and objects may initially seem haphazard, Evens' messiness is actually entirely intentional. "When I draw the jumble of the city or I draw nature…errors, spots and little incongruities make it more realistic. Because when you're in a space and you start to look around, you don't take in the whole. You can't. You don't see the world around you like you see a postcard; it's not organized that way. We're moving, others are moving, and the eye makes constant choices, it decides what to interpret and what to identify. So at any given moment, there's a lot of mess in there and, for me, this kind of mess has to stay in. It's controlled; it's never like I'm creating randomness. It's just that incongruities seem to catch the eye better. They're more natural and they latch onto the eye more realistically. Maybe I do play with a lot of stuff. But I only do it when it serves my narrative. It's all part of calibrating things. When I use a lot of detail, it's very calculated – I'm making sure it doesn't obstruct anything essential." The dozens of scenes may still be overwhelming for some, but I personally enjoyed picking apart all the individual vignettes and then seeing how they came together as a whole.
This is a particularly amusing exchange between two mer-folk and a nosy little fish. The addition of text is representative of Evens' background in illustrated books and comics. The humor reminds me a little bit of Danny Sangra, the artist who designed Burberry's spring 2018 palette.
I'm obsessed with this mer-kitty.
The scenes for the eyeshadow palette are equally spectacular. Sting rays take mer-children for a ride, while a sea elf peeks out from some seaweed to admire a blue-haired mermaid.
On the outer box a school of fish help another mermaid primp for a holiday party. She checks out her reflection in a seashell mirror held by two crabs.
I think the imagery on the sides of the skincare set was my favorite.
The set includes what appears to be a very fancy moisturizer (I didn't want to open the sealed plastic) and what I believe are packets of face serum. Each one tells a snippet of the "First Snow of Pearls" tale. Unfortunately I couldn't seem to locate the story at the Mikimoto website as I did last year, so I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be about.
I love that the images are totally bizarre but also make perfect sense. The concept of a sea-dwelling Santa is absurd, but if one exists, of course his sleigh team would be seahorses instead of reindeer and his bag of presents shaped like a seashell. Ditto for the mermaid taking a ride on the jellyfish "bus", pulling on its tentacles to signal her stop. While the underwater realm Evens created for Mikimoto is entirely imaginary, the usual rules still apply. As he puts it: "I do think I use visuals that might be dreamlike, or psychedelic, but I don’t think I use dream logic…you have to believe in the world you're creating."
There was also a lip gloss, the box for which shared the same illustrations as the skincare set.
Some lovely extras were included as gifts, like this silver toned box topped with a manta ray, a gold seashell cardholder and two cosmetic pouches. I noticed the powder brush was a bit scratchy, but 1. it was free and 2. I don't intend on using it anyway.
Let's learn a little more about the artist behind these fantastical scenes. The Belgian-born, Paris-based Brecht Evens (b.1986) studied illustration at Sint-Lucas Gent in Ghent, Belgium. Building on his country's tradition and notoriety for comics, he focuses on these and illustrated books, but has also completed murals in Brussels and Antwerp, created fabrics for Cotélac, and collaborated with Louis Vuitton on a Tokyo travel book.
Stylistically, Evens is influenced by his mentors, illustrator Goele Dewanckel and cartoonist Randall Casaer. You can also see glimpses of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, M.C. Escher and Picasso. Take, for example, the resemblance between the artwork Evens created for French publisher Actes Sud and Bruegel's Battle Between Carnival and Lent. Both utilize a bird's eye perspective and include dozens of different vignettes.
While Evens published several award-winning books early in his career, he is best known for more recent works Panther (2014) and The City of Belgium (Dutch and French versions released 2018; forthcoming editions in English in 2020). In terms of content, most of Evens' narratives tend to be a little dark. Panther is about a young girl named Christine whose cat dies. Her mother also threatens suicide, drives away and never comes back. Panther arrives seemingly to be Christine's friend and help her cope, but ends up being far more malicious than he appears. One reader called it a "apologism of pedophilia, zoophilia and incest". Yikes.
The City of Belgium (titled Les Rigoles for its French audience and Het Amusement for Belgium) is actually part of the same universe as Evens's 2009 work The Wrong Place, and the various versions of the book are meant to be connected. "I wanted something like a paperback copy of Balzac, a whole world that would be portable. But, instead of just one city, I wanted to make it a kind of European amalgam…the fun result would be for everyone to think it's their city."
The City of Belgium also reflects Evens' struggle with bi-polar disorder and gradual recovery from a particularly bad episode. While not as unsettling as Panther, the book follows three characters having parallel urban adventures throughout a single evening, one of whom suffers from depression. Evens discusses how the book came to be and acknowledges the "heavy" themes alongside the humor. "The germ was just me coming back to life. A state of depression never carries any potential or interest. Then, once the interest starts returning – bit by bit – it's like you're back at zero. At that point, it's just lines in old sketchbooks, dreams you have, something you happen to see sitting on a terrace. Because it's so surprising to have ideas again, you notice every little thought and you get them down in a sketchbook…[in 2013 and 2014] things were so messed up; I couldn't ever have considered such a massive project. The book is a product of peace having descended…the themes may be heavy, but I hope the treatment is light. Don't forget to mention it's full of gags and jokes!"
Evens appropriately chose a more lighthearted story for the Mikimoto collection while maintaining the concept of connected times and spaces. The characters and scenes appear disparate at first, but as you look more closely you can see that they're all part of the same underwater universe – preparing for the holiday season and the First Snow of Pearls. If anyone is going to create a fanciful mermaid-laden paracosm or "expanded reality" as one reviewer put it, Evens is the perfect choice, as he had been making these sorts of "imaginary worlds" since he was a child. "Practically all I did was try to make imaginary worlds come to life, which meant: visible to other people, in comics, designs for buildings, fantasy world maps, board and card games, cassette tapes… No teaching, no explaining, no argument, just a portable world, bound together, with maybe a dust jacket around it or even some leather," he says. He also did a fantastic job incorporating the pearls, which appear throughout all the scenes. My favorites are the fish helping construct a pearl garland and telling the lazy sea dog to wake up because it's snowing pearls.
The illustrations were incredibly fun on their own, but the addition of Evens' signature text provided another layer of humor.
"A lot of people, when they write dialogue, just go 'A, B', 'A, B', 'A, B.' They'll have the characters neatly wait their turn. Whereas I don't think our brains really work that way. In reality, it's more of a constant traffic jam – even when we like each other and we're interacting well. When we're interacting less well, it's more extreme," he says. You can see the more realistic dialogue (at least, as "realistic" as this mermaid world can be) Evens was aiming for in this scene depicting crabs and fish wrapping holiday presents.
I have no information on how the Mikimoto collaboration came about. I summoned my courage and emailed Evens to see if he could shed any light. He politely declined to be interviewed, but I'm guessing that Mikimoto approached him as he indicated he does not know much about cosmetics. I believe these are new illustrations Evens created especially for the brand, but I find it odd he hasn't included the collab on his website or IG page. I'm also assuming they were done using his usual handmade techniques. For The City of Belgium, he explains: "All the drawings were done on paper and I write by hand. So the creative parts are all computer-less. Where the computer comes in is for research; when I want things to be 'right' or inspired by actual stuff, then I'll look something up… Ecoline [ink] dominates, but I use a mix. Now I have some different inks and, with the same brush, I'll also pick up gouache to make it what I want. Or, I'll mix it with real aquarelle. It all depends on what I'm searching for, what opacity or transparency I need to have. There will also be some pastels and, often, markers." In looking closely at the lines and the way the colors overlap, it appears Evens did indeed draw everything by hand using a mix of markers and pastels on white paper.
So that about wraps it up. What do you think about this collection? What's your favorite scene or character? I'd party any time with these mer-folks!
Clé de Peau continues their streak of beautiful and inspired holiday collections. This year's theme, Kimono Dream, is an homage to two venerable Japanese art forms: the kimono and bijin-ga ("pictures of beautiful women"). Obviously a deep dive into the history of both of these is way beyond this blog post, but as usual I'll provide a condensed version. First, let's take a look at the collection itself.
Each piece is packaged in a sturdy paper sleeve. Remove the sleeve, and the package opens to reveal a bijin-ga painting featuring a woman wearing a kimono. The intricate folding is reminiscent of how the traditional kimono is held in place with an obi, the decorative sash worn around the waist, as well as tatou, the folded paper used to wrap and store silk kimonos to protect them from humidity. The patterns on the sleeves are inspired by obi patterns as well. The unfolding aspect of the packaging is gorgeous and highlights traditional Japanese art, but it's also perfect for the theme Clé de Peau wanted to express, which was revealing women's inner beauty. Each painting represents one of four traits: passion, strength, charm and gentleness.
It's a bit contrived, but I appreciate that Clé de Peau took the time to align the products with the traits they wanted to convey and write little descriptions for each. Here's the one for the lipsticks, which symbolize passion. "Intense. Dynamic. Instantly revealing the passion within. Represented by plum, and evergreens pine and bamboo, against bright red silk. Despite your elegant façade, the force of your passion is unmistakable. A signal of powerful emotion that can’t be concealed."
The eyeshadow quad was my favorite piece – I loved the striking black kimono shown on the woman contrasted with the delicate embossing on the shadows. "Strong, essential, with a flash of feminine red. Peonies and daffodils bloom in the snow, showing determination and vitality. A woman at one with her inner strength. Noble, dignified, the plum tree signifies resilience. You look outward at the world, through confident eyes."
Next is the face powder, signifying charm. "Evoking prettiness and innocence. Symbolized by the peacefulness of wisteria and chrysanthemum against soft salmon-pink. Inspired by the simplicity of flowers, you rest sweetly in softness."
Finally we have the face oil, which embodies gentleness. "Your open, unbounded heart. Fresh blue silk accented with vermillion and soft pink. The serenity of a goldfish in water. Cooling, refreshing, harmonious. Surrounded by gentleness, you are wholly embraced."
There was also a matte liquid lip color, but that didn't seem to be included in the four traits. Nevertheless it is stunning and the packaging was different than the others so I had to include it!
I couldn't resist sharing the embossing on the outer boxes. Such a nice little touch.
Now here's where the real history and collaborations come in. First up is the kimono Clé de Peau commissioned exclusively for the holiday collection. Fortunately for me (less work, haha!) the company did a fantastic job explaining the partnership and kimono-making process. "The kimono commissioned by Clé de Peau Beauté, created in collaboration with Tachibana, an embroidery and dyeing studio in Kyoto that plays a role in preserving kimono culture.1 Crafted using a valuable dyeing technique called Surigata-Yuzen, which uses dozens of stencils to dye different patterns, layering one color over another. Since Tachibana’s foundation in 1947, its colorful works have been captivating kimono fans. Founder Zenzo Sodesaki (born in 1911) learned the basics of making kimono at Chiso, a traditional Japanese textile producer and one of the oldest yuzen coloring companies in Kyoto. Current representative Yohei Kawai is the third generation, following Zenzo Sodesaki and second generation president, Kenichi Kawai." The red and pink colors were chosen specifically to match Clé de Peau's two holiday lipstick shades.
After the pattern is determined and sketched, it's time to stencil. The Clé de Peau kimono used a particular technique called Surigata-Yuzen. I'll let Clé de Peau describe the process in a nutshell. "The Surigata-Yuzen method uses dozens of stencils to dye patterns onto kimono silk, layering one color over another to produce a gradation. Every gradation is done by hand, adding another layer to the painstaking art of the kimono…For each color, dyeing is repeated in different tones, the layers achieving a complex and extraordinary beauty." A whopping 34 stencils were used for Clé de Peau's kimono.
Tachibana's bowtie website provided a little more insight into the process. "Dedicated professionals hand-carve patterns to create the stencils, which were at one time made simply of layered paper but are now mixed with resin to give them strength. Hoshi-awase, the positioning of the stencils, is one of the most important parts of the dyeing process. All of the stencils in a given pattern have small holes called hoshi. By aligning the hoshi of each stencil at the exact same place, dozens of stencils can be positioned on the fabric with great accuracy. Senshoku is the process of dyeing a pattern on fabric using brushes with colors. Various-sized brushes are used according to the size of a pattern. Once part of the fabric is dyed, a stencil is moved to the next place on the fabric. Stencils are accurately aligned using the hoshi holes. Pattern dyeing is followed by a process called noribuse, in which the whole pattern is covered with rice glue before dyeing with ground colors."
Next, the entire kimono was hand-dyed with a brush via a process called Hikizome. Hikizome is used not just for kimonos but can be applied to all kinds of textiles – pillows, curtains, towels, etc. I believe this is true for yuzen as well, but once again I'm not certain.
The last step is to wait for the dye to dry in its own good time. According to Clé de Peau, "To make a kimono is to live by the laws of nature. So as not to alter the natural drying process, temperature condition is maintained the same throughout the year. The fate of the color finish is in the hands of nature, as the outcome is never the same." This aspect of the process fascinates me, especially for the Clé de Peau collection. The company wanted very specific colors that perfectly matched their two lipstick shades, so given that the drying is left to nature, how could they know for sure the color would turn out the way they wanted?
Obviously it doesn't really matter, but it's interesting to consider that no one can predict the exact color. That makes the control freak in me rather anxious, but I can also appreciate the respect for nature. While I enjoyed reading about the kimono production process, I would have liked to see a little guide on how to fold and secure a kimono and how the obi fits in, as this aspect of the kimono was emphasized in the collection's packaging. Oh well.
Now let's take a look at the amazing paintings by Ayana Otake, which graced the interiors of the packaging. Again, I didn't have to do much digging to get some information about Otake, for Clé de Peau also provided a brief bio. "Born in Saitama in 1981, Otake-san grew up surrounded by traditional culture and kimono. In 2007, she graduated in the Japanese Painting from the Department of Painting at Tokyo University of the Arts. She has produced works for galleries and department stores in Tokyo, and also practices bookbinding and package design." I would have liked to interview Otake to hear more about the Clé de Peau collaboration – I'm always curious to know how companies and artists find each other – but looking at Otake's other work as well as finding out a little about the tradition of bijin-ga will have to suffice.
Otake specializes in a modern version of bijin-ga. "Ga" means "picture" and "bijin" means "beautiful person", but is nearly always translated to "beautiful woman". Like kimonos, bijin-ga has an incredibly rich and long history. Part of me feels guilty for reducing it to a few paragraphs, but mostly I feel that since I'm not a Japanese art expert, I need to reign it in.
The genre of bijin-ga originated in the late 17th century and was popularized towards the end of the 18th century via ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). The women depicted at the outset were prostitutes, but over time bijin-ga expanded to include women from all walks of life. This website hosted by the Atsumi International Foundation explains the early origins of bijin-ga. "[W]ith the changes in society related to the rise of the merchant class, there was a new interest in depicting daily activities and pleasures of contemporary life. Popular entertainments were used for subject matter in paintings and then an interest developed in the beauty of personal appearance and form of women, including their clothing. Women of the brothels and pleasure quarters were predominately represented, and bijinga became a principal genre of the new *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. Single female figure portraits developed in the Kanbun 寛文 era (1661-73) with the Kanbun beauty *kanbunbijin 寛文美人. Typically, a yuujo 遊女 (courtesan or licensed prostitute) in a standing position was depicted in the bijinga of early ukiyo-e. Bijinga gradually broadened to include tea shop waitresses, the daughters and wives of tradesmen, etc. Nishikawa Sukenobu 西川祐信 (1671-1751) and Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (1725-70) produced pictures of women of various social classes, in addition to courtesans."2
In addition to portraying a variety of women, bijin-ga gradually expanded in the late 19th century to emphasize a woman's inner beauty as well as outer. "During the Meiji Era (1868-1912), portraits of beautiful women — which later became known as bijinga — evolved to focus on not only physical beauty, but also inner beauty. During this time, many artists excelled at bijinga, including Kiyokata Kaburaki (1878-1972), who was acclaimed for emotionally rich portraits; Shinsui Ito (1898-1972), who depicted real women rather than models; and Uemura Shoen (1875-1949), a female artist who brought a sense of dignity and refinement to the women she portrayed." As we'll see, I think Uemura Shoen's work in particular is a precursor to Otake's in that her paintings seek to express not just internal beauty but perhaps an inner monologue. The women in both artists' paintings appear very contemplative – I'd love to know what's going on in their heads. I'd also propose that both artists' perspectives are more feminist than they appear at first glance.
Anyway, the shin hanga ("new prints") art movement of the early 1900s cultivated further evolution of the bijin-ga genre. As the century progressed, the women portrayed became fully liberated from the earlier negative connotations, and the emphasis on capturing their internal beauty and positive traits became the primary attribute of modern bijin-ga. Otake's work continues the tradition of bijin-ga on a very basic level in that her paintings are of beautiful women; however, they have a thoroughly modern sensibility. Gone are the perfectly coiffed and made-up ladies of the old bijin-ga, as Otake shows women in a more natural, relaxed state – half-dressed with loose hair, lounging in bed or on the floor. There's a greater sense of intimacy and introspection in these scenes, as well as personal agency. These women don't seem to be waiting for anyone, they're simply enjoying some time alone.
As far as I know Otake created original works for the Clé de Peau collection rather than recycling existing pieces. They tie into the collection not just through the inner beauty aspect but also by Otake's particular process, as her technique mimics one the methods used for kimono production. In the video below, she says: "When I'm not painting I look at greenery and try to be in touch with nature as much as possible…If it isn't sunny or a dry day, I can't work. So I look to the weather. Nothing beats natural drying. And authenticity is not about going against nature, but to live with nature, which I think is important." Otake notes that while sometimes she uses a dryer to speed up the drying time of her paintings, she usually "messes up". Her respect for nature and allowing it to complete her paintings serves as a parallel to letting the kimono dry naturally according to the weather, without any other intervention.
Overall, this is another winner from Clé de Peau. The intricacy of the packaging echoes the labor involved in the traditional kimono-making process, while the paintings serve as an updated version of a centuries-old artistic genre – it's a perfect marriage of old and new. I admired that for this collection, instead of doing a straight-up artist collaboration as in years past, (nothing wrong with those, of course!) they honored waning cultural traditions to raise awareness and educate people, a concept perhaps borrowed from Sulwhasoo's Shine Classic compacts. Finally, I loved all the details: the folding of the packaging, the fact that the paintings were on the inside to represent inner beauty, dyeing the kimono the same colors as the lipsticks, even the embossing on the boxes all came together to form a cohesive collection. I must congratulate the design team, as every last detail served a purpose. They were stunning, sure, but they also weren't superfluous – every single one contributed to the theme. I will say I'm scratching my head as to the whereabouts of Clé de Peau Creative Director Lucia Pieroni, as she doesn't seem to be as involved with this collection as in previous years, but the collection itself turned out beautifully.
What do you think of this collection? Which painting was your favorite?
1For further reading on the history and cultural meanings of the kimono I'd recommend Kimono: A Modern History.
2This author points out that while they were euphemistically labeled as "courtesans", the prostitutes depicted in early bijin-ga had rather tragic lives. "Often the images were published with the prostitutes' names. Such prints were usually commissioned by high-ranking oiran as a kind of advertising posters. In today's print descriptions by ukiyo-e dealers or auction houses, the women shown on bijin prints are usually named 'courtesans'. The life for these 'courtesans' was not so beautiful. They were kept like slaves in these licensed quarters." Yikes.
As soon as I laid eyes on the mesmerizing swirls of this Laura Mercier bronzing compact I knew it was a Museum must-have. Only when I visited their website to find the official name of the compact for the summer exhibition label did I discover that this beauty was the work of California-based artist Kathryn Beals.
I was hypnotized by the marbleized pattern well as the color scheme of celestial blues with ribbons of gold.
I believe the bronzer is a cream formula so it began "sweating" a bit when I placed it the windowsill to take photos.
Beals, a self-taught artist raised in British Columbia, is a third-generation painter who began selling her artwork at the age of 13. Her love of the outdoors led her to pursue a career in forestry studying aspen trees. She eventually switched to painting full-time, and both her professional background and camping adventures in the Northwest made landscapes her primary subject matter.
Her technique changed in 2017, when she discovered "fluid pouring" in which streams of variously colored acrylic paint are poured onto a canvas to form abstract, yet organic-looking, imagery. "[I] immediately fell in love with the way fluid paintings come out looking like something in nature; from cells to rocks to aerial photos to galaxies," she says. In this way they function sort of as nature's inkblots in that the finished product can resemble different natural phenomena to different viewers: one might see a night sky or geological formation while another sees a microscopic organism or ocean waves, or it could be all of these simultaneously. Beals also credits her grapheme color synesthesia – meaning she sees words and numbers in color – and migraine auras as key influences on the patterns she creates.
Beals began experimenting with incorporating metallic leaf into her abstract works to add a bit of structure and sheen to them. She pioneered a unique metal leafing technique by using liquid adhesive to outline natural details (trees, rivers, etc.) and applying gold, silver or copper leaf on top. The paintings are then topped off with a layer of shiny resin for a reflective, three-dimensional effect. Earlier this year she launched her own online course to train other artists in this technique. All of Beals' series are based on nature – riverbeds, forests, and glaciers seem to be her favorite sources of inspiration.
To give you a better sense of Beals' process I've included this video. I love how it combines a slightly haphazard technique (acrylic pouring) with a more intricate one (metal leaf outlines) to create a perfect marriage of abstraction and traditional landscapes. It also looks like she's left-handed, and you know how cool I think lefties are.
I enjoy Beals' work, but I'm even more impressed by her charitable mindset. She is fully devoted to donating a good portion of the proceeds from her art sales to various nonprofits. She explains, "I want to remember my connection to forestry and the outdoors in my work, so I use my art to raise funding for conservation nonprofits. As a cancer survivor, I want to give back, so I plan to do a benefit series every year with my artwork." In the past Beals has given The Nature Conservancy, the American Cancer Society, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Doctors Without Borders, among others. Her most recent series this month raised over $5,000 for Leave No Trace, an organization that educates those who manage public lands and the public itself on reducing their environmental impact. From 2017 till now, Beals has donated over $20,000 to charitable organizations and hopes to raise $100,000 in her lifetime. I'd say she's well on her way! And, uh, I also know a museum she could donate to. 😉
Anyway, I was pretty excited to find that Beals had posted the original artwork that was used for the Laura Mercier bronzer at her Instagram.
Of course I had to highlight the section that's on the case.
I'm still itching to know how the collab came about and why Laura Mercier selected Beals for this piece. I left a comment on the artist's Instagram to no avail, but that's par for the course I suppose given how infrequently artists actually respond to my requests. Oh well. I think the company may just happened to have been one of the over 6 million views of this 2018 viral Facebook video/artist interview, and approached Beals for a collab. But I'd like to talk with the artist and get her views on makeup and beauty, especially since she looks to be bare-faced most of the time – I'd be curious to know if she'd actually use the product her artwork appeared on. I also think it would have been really cool if Laura Mercier had added clear acrylic on top of the case to make it resemble one of Beals' finished pieces even more. (Check out NARS's Man Ray lipstick coffrets if you can't picture what I'm talking about.)
What do you think of this bronzer and of Beals's work? If you had to choose, would you buy this one or MAC's Electric Wonder collection?
Apologies for the back to back artist collaboration posts. I was hoping to have a February recap in between but work has been sapping my spirit even more so than usual, so I ended up abandoning Curator's Corner last month. I don't think you'll mind too much though, once you see the positively amazing porcine-themed brush from Chikuhodo, who teamed up with illustrator/graphic designer Mochichito (a.k.a. Steph Fung) to celebrate the Chinese New Year. You might remember how smitten I was with Chikuhodo's Moon Rabbit brush, so as soon as I saw this one I knew I had to add it to the menagerie. If I remember I'll try to update this post with comparison shots to that brush so that those of you who actually intend on using it can see how the size and shape compare. I will say that as with the Moon Rabbit brush, the quality of the bristles of the Mochichito one appears impeccable – super soft and fluffy.
The detailing and craftsmanship are simply stunning. The handle has a scene depicting two piglets resting on fluffy silver clouds and a gold crescent moon, while silver and pink cherry blossoms bloom behind them.
Naturally I had to take tons of close-up shots so you can appreciate the beauty, but I'm not sure if they do it justice…it's much more charming than my pictures were able to capture.
As with the Moon Rabbit brush, there's a touch of iridescence on the silver portion.
Just when you think they couldn't possibly get any cuter, Mochichito ratchets up the adorable factor by giving the piggies tiny silver dimples.
So who is the woman behind all this preciousness? Fortunately I didn't have to do much digging, as Beautylish has a brief but informative interview with the artist posted online. Mochichito is the brainchild of Steph Fung, a graphic designer who began focusing more on her illustrative pursuits several years ago. Fung earned her BFA in Digital Media from Otis College of Art and Design in 2011. While she is an accomplished designer, the Mochichito project allows her to indulge her love of anything kawaii and handmade crafts. A lifetime doodler – "I loved drawing in notebooks when I should have been taking notes," she says – the Mochichito brand is a natural progression of Fung's passion for illustration. Interestingly, Fung is primarily a digital artist, i.e. what you see is not made by hand on paper and then translated into a digital format – her illustrations are originally drawn on a screen. Adobe Illustrator is her favorite tool, as she claims she's "never been very good at traditional mediums." I find this fascinating since I believed it would actually be much more difficult to be creative with digital illustration techniques given their limitations, but the ingenuity displayed in Mochichito shows that if you're a true artist, the medium doesn't matter – you'll find a way to uniquely express your vision.
Fung's subject matter consists largely of animals and flowers, with some playful critters that don't actually exist in nature. Yes, there are mermaids! She explains: "I would probably describe my style as kawaii cute! I always try to have fun with word play or convey a fun idea or concept in my art. I love bright colors (but also pastel), animals, and cute faces (is that weird?)". Nope, not at all!
Fung finds inspiration in a variety of places. "I’m very much influenced by anime, stationery and lovely packaging, fashion, music, and other people’s art—there is so much to see at your fingertips these days." Indeed, Fung is mindful of what her fellow artists are up to, and seems to enjoy participating in 100 day Instagram challenges with them. My favorite are these cheeky illustrations she completed for #100daysoflittledudes, which also show her aforementioned love of word play.
The Mochichito store offers an array of stickers, pins, and more recently, acrylic toys based on the illustrations Fung created for the "100 days of tiny terrariums" Instagram challenge. I hope to see stationery or even stuffed animals some day!
Speaking of which, I think another reason Mochichito's work resonates with me so much is the fact that she has a stuffed teddy named Little Bear that accompanies her on her travels.
As for the Beautylish collab, previously Mochichito was responsible for designing the store's Lucky Bags, which are essentially Japanese fukubukuro – a custom for the new year where bags are filled with mystery contents offered at a much lower price than if you purchased them individually. For example, a $75 Beautylish Lucky Bag typically has full size items worth $150 or or more. In 2018 Fung took inspiration from the Japanese legend of the Seven Lucky Gods who are said to grant good luck (shown top to bottom, left to right in the illustration below): Bishamonten, Daikokoten, Hotei, Benzaiten, Ebisu, Jurojin, and Fukurokuju.
This year, Beautylish tapped Fung again to come up with an illustration for a Chikuhodo brush to celebrate the lunar new year. Fung shares the creative process behind the adorable end result: "Since the design was for the Lunar New Year, I knew I wanted to include a moon. 2019 is the Year of the Pig, so I thought making a large, gleaming moon as the pigs' playground would be so cute. Incorporating some floral elements into the design would add some soft, delicate touches to frame the scene. The story behind the design is really up to the viewer! I wanted to keep it kind of open-ended. You could think of the pigs as two lovers, a mama or papa pig and their piglet, or just two frolicking friends."
It was Fung's first time designing a brush handle, and I think she translated the design to suit the handle beautifully. "It was definitely different from anything I’ve worked on in the past. I had to keep in mind the shape and curvature of the brush and make sure all of the important parts of the artwork would be seen from the front of the brush, but also how I might continue the artwork around the sides and back of the brush, while also keeping in mind how it would photograph." I agree that you have to think differently about how an illustration would work in 3D versus on a flat surface, and Fung executed it perfectly.
Overall, obviously I'm in love with this brush and all of Mochichito's work. Art with a more serious style or message is great, but sometimes your eyes and brain just need cute things. And it could be because I've just discovered it and have been watching it nonstop, but Mochichito's characters remind me so much of those from Adventure Time, a truly whimsical kids' cartoon that I can't seem to get enough of lately. There's just something so comforting about cuteness! As for Chikuhodo, the designs on their brush handles tend to be more elegant and sophisticated, so going the kawaii route was a refreshing change of pace.
What do you think of this brush and Mochichito?
There's a reason you haven't seen much of Pai Pai at the Museum as of late: unfortunately, the company wasn't doing enough business in the U.S. so they ceased their short-lived shipping here. But the good news is that a fellow collector sussed out another Mexico-based store that carries the line and will send it to the States. After missing out on several really cool collaborations I was finally able to resume adding Pai Pai to the Museum's collection. Without further ado, I introduce their latest release, a collaboration with Ana Leovy.
I had hoped to get the exclusive scoop on the collection and emailed the artist for an interview. Much to my disappointment she did not respond. (And you wonder why I'm continually discouraged – this is the second artist in a row to turn me down). Nevertheless I was able to cobble together some information on Leovy's work. For the Pai Pai collection, it appears she created four different paintings to be used on four lipstick cases. To my knowledge they are untitled.
Here are the colors in case you're not a crazy collector and actually want to use them!
Ana Leovy is a young Mexico City-based artist whose vibrant, woman-centric paintings have garnered the attention from everyone from the likes of Man Repeller to Elle Mexico. Originally trained as a graphic designer, Leovy reignited her love of painting after earning her Master degree in illustration at a university in Barcelona. Upon completion of her degree she moved back to Mexico to pursue painting full-time. She states in an interview, "Although I love graphic design, being an artist gives me so much more creative freedom. People come to me now because they like my style and they trust what I will create for them, whereas from my experience working with design clients, they were a bit harder to please – and I was stressed all the time. Art doesn’t feel like a job at all, it brings me lots of joy and peace, especially when seeing the reaction of people who have bought my work, it’s the best feeling ever!"
Thematically, Leovy's work consists mostly of the female form. Their bodies are often asymmetrical, out of proportion and show a range of colors, reflecting Leovy's commitment to depicting diversity in body shapes, sizes and skin tones. "We all come in different shapes and colors, I think that is so interesting and awesome. We should learn to embrace our uniqueness. I like playing with distorted bodies in order to avoid falling into any specific beauty category. I think it’s important to encourage diversity; my work isn’t about creating beautiful people, but trying to send a message of self-love and empowerment. Perfection is not necessarily beautiful; to me different is more exciting. We already have perfection in photography…I want everyone to be able to relate to my work regardless of their skin color or body shape." While this may seem disingenuous coming from someone as gorgeous as Leovy – I tend to roll my eyes at beautiful, thin women (especially models and actresses) who preach "loving your body" – I believe she is sincere. The proof is in her work; you will not find skinny, conventionally beautiful model types in any of Leovy's paintings. This is a refreshing change from other illustrators, especially the more fashion-based ones. Leovy's women are modern and yes, well-dressed (the artist loves fashion, citing Mara Hoffman and Elie Saab among her favorite designers), but without the reinforcement of beauty and fashion stereotypes. This makes her work seem much less intimidating and achieves her goal of being relatable to the average woman.
Another reason Leovy's work seems more welcoming than other depictions of women we see so frequently in beauty collabs is the overwhelming spirit of camaraderie and sisterhood. “All my life women around me have been nothing but inspiration. I love being able to confide in them," she says. I particularly love this scene of women having a picnic in a lush garden, clearly enjoying each other's company (along with some wine and Vogue magazines!)
I also enjoy the feminist bend in Leovy's work, which shows an awareness of the inequality faced by women. She states: “Sadly we are still a very chauvinist community where you get blamed for being out too late or the way you dress…It has never been my intention to become too political, however I think now more than ever it is important to stand up and support what you believe in. It is amazing to see so many movements all around the world demanding what should be natural; equality, love and acceptance. So after seeing all this it is impossible not to feel vulnerable, getting involved in such topics are a small way of showing support.”
Depicting women by themselves, enjoying their time alone is another way Leovy expresses a more feminist angle. "[Mexico] is a country where most women are raised to be married and have children, nothing else. Even though this has been a year of very feminist-oriented social media, I believe we’re still lacking the day-to-day actions that go in hand with these movements, to really practice what we preach,” she says. Showing women without a male partner, and even happy without a male presence, emphasizes the notion of women's independence as well as a rejection of the societal expectations of marriage and procreation. It's rare that you see women living "happily ever after" totally on their own; single women are generally still viewed as defective, or at the very least, lonely spinsters. That's why I love seeing Leovy's paintings of women in a room by themselves, reading, watching TV in their sweats or simply having a moment with their thoughts, as these pieces fight back against the stigma single women endure. (And even if you're partnered, it's important to have some time alone on occasion to maintain your sense of self.)
Now that we've covered the main themes in Leovy's oeuvre, I want to talk a little about her style, particularly her use of color. The landscape and textiles of her native Mexico as well as the tropical environment of the Caribbean, where she lived for several years, shaped her preference for vibrant colors. The unexpected combinations reflect Leovy's "no rules" approach. "When it comes to color in my work I believe the more the merrier, it's the part of the creation process I enjoy the most, I follow no rule or guideline whatsoever and I love it…Choosing the color palette is my favorite part, I love letting myself flow and see what comes out. I think the colors I choose are sort of a personal journal of my mood swings."
While Leovy's style is uniquely her own, I can't help but notice a striking resemblance to Matisse. Another article points out the similarity between Leovy and Matisse in terms of color, but I'd also argue that the use of a somewhat flattened perspective, background patterns, and overall composition are reminiscent of Matisse's interiors. Some examples, alternating between the two artists and starting with Matisse:
In terms of format, Leovy enjoys both large and small scale. “Every format has its good and bad side, big canvases might feel intimidating at first but once you get started they are so much fun, love a big white space to intervene. However, tiny pieces are the cutest and I also enjoy doing them. So I guess I love them all, I like being able to change formats and not being stuck with only one, I think I would find that boring,” she says. For the Pai Pai collection, I thought for sure the works she created would be large, but they actually look tiny.
So that brings us full circle to the Pai Pai collection. Overall I really enjoy Leovy's work, as it's a change of pace from the fashion illustrations we've seen in various other collabs, and obviously I love the feminist vibe. I also like how Pai Pai switches it up for each collection by choosing artists with wildly varied styles. Leovy's paintings are totally different from, say, the work of Jorge Serrano and illustrations of Pinut Brein. Pai Pai always keeps me guessing and it's another aspect I love about the brand – they never stick to one type of artist. I just wish I could have gotten some information about how the partnership with Pai Pai came about, what Leovy's approach to makeup is (if any – she looks rather au naturel!) and whether anything in particular inspired her paintings used for the collection.
What do you think of this collection and Leovy's work? Which image is your favorite?
Over the years I've become much more aware of brands sold outside the U.S., but this holiday season I discovered yet another new-to-me brand based in Japan. Mikimoto is a historic purveyor of fine pearls and jewelry, founded in 1899 by Kokichi Mikimoto, the first person to successfully create cultured pearls. The cosmetics line was established in 1970 and as far as I know is not available for sale in the States. When a fellow collector alerted me to their holiday lineup, a collaboration with French illustrator Emmanuel Pierre, I took one look and knew it belonged in the Museum. The appropriately themed Wish on a Pearl collection playfully celebrates Mikimoto's heritage thanks to the delightfully strange collages by Pierre.
Can we just take a second to appreciate how beautifully the two key pieces from the collection were wrapped?! A sturdy blue tote bag was also included. This sophisticated wrapping is a refined contrast to the unbridled weirdness that lies inside. Get ready, it's gonna be a wild ride!
The eyeshadow palette has a bizarre scene depicting a winged seahorse, several figures whose lower halves consist of a bird, fish and shells, and a cheeky little boy gleefully picking his nose and wearing a hat made of coral. He sits atop a crescent moon, which is being hugged by a girl-jellyfish hybrid. My favorite character is the lady on the right holding a lipstick above a Christmas tree decorated with coral and pearls.
The palette itself has equally peculiar figures: another half-seashell, half-woman wearing a hat adorned with a tomato and holding a spiral shell sprouting berry sprigs, and a man dressed in 17th century (?) garb with a mandela blooming around his waist.
After spending a solid week looking at these images and others by Pierre, I still couldn't make any sense out of them so I asked my fellow former art history major husband what he thought. He seemed to think they had a slight fairy tale or children's book vibe, and as it turns out, he was spot on (of course). The Mikimoto cosmetics site provides a little bedtime Christmas story for the characters represented on the packaging. As always, Google Translate doesn't help clear things up, but at least I found that there was a brief narrative behind the collection. The first section is called "In the Sea" and is accompanied by one of the images from the palette box. The text reads, "Christmas soon. The pearl sparkled in the sea, It seems to be a star hitting the night sky. Fish, shells, starfish, too. I'm counseling gifts. sand of star. A stone mirror. Coral lipstick. One from a gorgeous conversation. The girl is crying. 'You lost the pearl you kept.'"
The next segment is called "The Shining Night" (which, from when I can deduce, signifies Christmas Eve in this story) and introduces a mermaid. "A pale girl. The mermaid that can not be left alone, Pearls I owned I will give it to the girl. That night, The mermaid woke up with a bright light. The pearls decorated in the Coral Forest raise the moonlight, It seems as if it melted all over. A young man appears from over there. The two danced together." The mermaid on the right appears on the box for the stationery set, which I'll show in a minute.
The final section is entitled "On Christmas Day" and features the couple from the palette: "The next morning. Mermaid is a night event I noticed that it was not a dream. That young man came over. In his hands the pearl that should have given the girl shine. Mermaid's skin looks like a pearl. It was glossy and transparent. This is transmitted from long ago. The sea Christmas story."
I can't say I understood any of that, but I do like the overall sea theme and mention of a mermaid. I'm guessing it's a story about giving the gift of pearl essence for Christmas and how its luster makes one's skin luminous and dewy like a mermaid's? Anyway, there's no mention of the blonde bird lady or little boy, but they do appear again on the face powder box. The powder itself is encased in a pearl-shaped container with an iridescent finish. My photos can't even approximate its beauty. (The palette also has this finish but I couldn't seem to capture it there either.)
There was also a little makeup bag and a set of note cards which came free with the purchase of both makeup items. A brush set and train case were additional gifts-with-purchase, but I was too late to get my hands on them.
Two of the three postcard designs are the same as those on the makeup, while the third shows a half shell/half woman wearing a hat made out of a crab and holding a heart-shaped gift box. Additional shells and pearls are scattered towards her "foot".
The poems on the cards offer no explanation for the images nor do they seem to align with the narrative from the website, but obviously Pierre continued with ocean/shell/sea creature motifs to tie in to the pearl theme.
At first glance, Emmanuel Pierre (b. 1958) seemed like an odd choice for a collaboration with a fairly traditional company like Mikimoto. It wasn't until I noticed his work for the likes of Hermès and the New Yorker that it started to seem like a good fit. Still, I find his work to be incredibly strange. It's one of those "the more you look at it, the weirder it gets" styles. And that's a great thing for me, given my love for all things offbeat and oddball. I couldn't find any interviews with the artist and my art history training is failing me yet again so I can't give a thorough or even remotely accurate analysis of Pierre's work, but I will say I think it has a slight Dada feel to it given the emphasis on collages and absurdist imagery and text. These characteristics provide a different flavor than Surrealism, whose bizarre scenes tended to be rooted in an attempt to represent the unconscious. Pierre's oeuvre also lacks the occasionally unsettling or menacing vibes of Surrealism; I find it more whimsical and humorous than creepy, and the Dadaists were well-known for their sense of humor and quick wit. To put it briefly, I'm thinking more Duchamp than Dali when I look at Pierre's work. So let's take a peek, shall we?
While Pierre certainly proves his mettle at conventional illustration styles, it's his collages – fantastical scenes depicting figures dressed in anachronistic clothing and oddly combined with a range of objects and animals – where I think he truly excels. Take, for example, these ladies engaged in some sort of strawberry/comb exchange…and did you notice the kitty paws on the woman on the right?
And this jellyfish lady made me smile. You can see the lower portion of her bell on the makeup bag.
These illustrations for World of Interiors magazine show that, while Pierre's choice of motifs seem totally out of left field at first, they actually make sense in that they always express the topic they're accompanying. As with the Mikimoto collection, the artist brings together fanciful images to form a cohesive theme that represents whatever subject he's working on – in this case, the food, tea kettle and brick chimneys signal home decor.
The husband's earlier observation about the fairy tale quality of Pierre's work made me wonder whether he's illustrated children's books. Sure enough, he completed a book for kids on the Carnival of Venice. The strange masks and costumes can be downright scary for little ones (and, um, even for grownups such as myself), but Pierre's skillful, whimsical touch ensures nothing but fun through the canals and streets of Venice during the festivities.
I also wonder whether Pierre is influenced at all by late 19th century greeting cards. The human-animal-object hybrids and anthropomorphic figures are reminding me of the more bizarre scenes sometimes found in Victorian holiday cards. Compare a few side by side (Pierre's work on the left/top, antique cards on the right/bottom).
Here are some examples of the animal-humans (human-animals?). The first three are by Pierre, the next three are from the late 1800s.
Those turn-of-the-century folks had some weird tastes, I can tell you that! (Their imagery also goes a lot darker and creepier than you would expect, especially for what are supposed to be joyousoccasions.) These also have me questioning whether Pierre comes up with his own vintage styles for these collages or if he uses authentic vintage sources, i.e. does he come up with all these characters and then draw everything by hand or does he somehow trace or cut out pieces from vintage magazines and other ephemera? I'm very curious about his process.
Getting back to the Mikimoto collection, I'm still wondering how the collaboration came about and why the company selected Pierre. I guess they wanted some charming French flair for their holiday lineup, which is a good choice. I love more modern illustration styles, but for the holidays I find myself craving more quaint, vintage styles since I get so nostalgic. In any case, I'm assuming as with his other clients Pierre created the images used on the packaging especially for the Mikimoto collection, although he never revealed it when he shared them back in April on his Instagram. I have many unanswered questions, but overall I enjoyed the collection. As you know I'm obsessed with mermaids and their underwater lairs, so weird half-seashell/fish people are right up my alley!
What do you think? What's your favorite image from Pierre's work that I've shown here?
Over the past few years I've really been enjoying Clé de Peau's artist collaborations for their holiday collections. They select artists with very different styles but ones that somehow always do an amazing job representing the brand's vision and aesthetic. This year the company partnered with Italian surrealist illustrator Daria Petrilli, who, as you will see, is as mysterious as her dreamlike artwork.
According to this interview with the Shiseido team responsible for the collection, Clé de Peau's makeup director Lucia Pieroni selected an Alice in Wonderland theme, or a "winter fairyland" per the translation of the French "féeries d'hiver". Consisting of pale pinks and greys contrasting with bold berry and a dash of soft shimmer, the color scheme is meant to evoke a winter tea party in an English garden. It was packaging designer Kaori Nagata who suggested collaborating with Petrilli and who translated her beautiful illustrations to equally gorgeous boxes and palette cases. Simply put, the team was "mesmerized by [Petrilli's] talent." They were also searching for an artist who could elevate a theme usually intended for children and create a grown-up version of Wonderland to match the style (and price tag) of a high-end line. As Shiseido rep Saiko Kawahara notes, "Brands of low to mid price range create many products that are 'adorable,' but I think that is precisely why it is necessary to add some refinement, such as 'a grown-up joke' or 'spicy playfulness,' when a prestige brand attempts to create an 'adorable' product." Indeed, while Disney-fied versions of Alice worked well on mid-end brands like Beyond, Paul & Joe and Urban Decay, I don't think they'd be appropriate for Clé de Peau. And I don't mean that in a snooty way either – that style just wouldn't be a good fit for the brand.
Now let's get to the goodies! I picked up the eye shadow quad, pressed powder, stick highlighter, and one of the lipsticks. I think the colors for the makeup itself are lovely, but what really blew me away is the mix of aqua, light pink and fuchsia with hints of coral and deep wine throughout the packaging.
The playing card embossing is a stroke of genius.
I adore all the packaging, but the white rabbit peeking out of the box for the powder highlighter and the woman's rosy cheeks and chic dark lips on the outer case are possibly my favorites out of the collection.
In addition to the key, checkerboard and playing card motifs, the names for each product were also carefully chosen to align with the Alice theme. This lipstick, for example, is called Paint Me (the other is Follow Me), an homage to both painting the queen's roses red and the "eat me/drink me" signs in Lewis Carroll's classic book. Meanwhile, the eyeshadow quad is named Tea Party, the pressed powder Pink Push Me, and the stick highlighter Light Me.
The company even came up with an ad featuring a poem for each item. The animations are looking a little Monty Python to me, but that's probably just because I've been re-watching it on Netflix the past few weeks. It's still pretty cute.
The moisturizer is the one piece I did not buy, as I couldn't justify the $535 (!) price tag for just the outer packaging. Even if the jar itself was decorated I still couldn't have bought it – too rich for my blood. Still, it's beautiful, and the keyhole cut out, along with the cut-outs on the other boxes, emphasize a connection to the entire Clé de Peau brand. Says Ayumi Nishimoto, another member of Shiseido's creative team, "Not only does this tie in with the holiday concept ('open the door to the extraordinary'), it is also brilliantly linked to Clé de Peau Beauté’s tagline, 'unlock the power of your radiance.'" Indeed, "clé" is French for key, so this detail creates complete cohesion across the holiday collection and Clé de Peau line. Now that's what I call synergy!
Apologies for the lackluster photo, it was the only one I could find of the cutout.
The keys were also used on the skincare sets, none of which I purchased but still covet.
Finally, there were some very nice gift boxes and bags featuring different images, which were offered with the purchase of any two items from the holiday collection at the Clé de Peau website. Since I eagerly bought the collection as soon as it became available at Neiman Marcus (so I could use my store card and also get 10% cash back via Ebates), I missed this as well. I might hunt for one on ebay.
As for the worldwide marketing of the collection, both online and in-store advertising were simply dazzling. The advertising and design team created a truly magical video where Petrilli's illustrations spring to life. Unlike the ad above, this one features much more sophisticated animations and cutting-edge 360 degree technology so that the viewer feels totally immersed in Wonderland. Nishimoto and fellow team member Satoko Tomizawa explain: "As global campaigns are launched in various countries around the world, it is necessary to create something that is highly versatile and universal. This time, we took on a new challenge of making not just a campaign video, but also a 360-degree video that anyone, anywhere, can experience through their smartphones. Viewers can enjoy more of the wonderland that we have created. While remaining respectful of Daria’s illustrations, we paid special attention to giving the campaign videos a sense of worldliness unique to 3D animation. We asked the production studio Shirogumi, Inc. to produce the CGI for the story of a rabbit jumping through keyholes and traveling through wonderland."
Additionally, I must say the set up at their Omotesando Hills location in Tokyo was spectacular, rivaling the decor used for Kathe Fraga's breathtaking collection last year. Tomizawa states that the collection theme allowed the company to show a more whimsical side of the brand and push the boundaries of not only packaging but also store design. "We created a spatial experience, where visitors could enter as the mysterious wonderland as if their bodies had shrunk small. Not only was the Clé de Peau Beauté Store in Omotesando Hills in holiday mode, but entire complex invited visitors to experience wonderland. Large banners hung from ceiling to the floor, blownup packaging made their appearances in the staircase, a mysterious tea party setting along with the 360-degree video was on display. It was the first time that the holiday collection was featured in such a large-scale event. Inspired by the packaging design, we were able to expand on many playful ideas for digital and spatial design. Through this wonderland we were able to show a more imaginative, playful side of the prestige brand." I would have loved to visit this magical setup!
Now that we've covered the collection, let's delve into the world of the highly secretive Daria Petrilli. Born in 1970 in Rome, she graduated with an MA in Communication and Design at the Università La Sapienza, then moved to London and completed a degree in Experimental Illustration at the London College of Communication, a school within the prestigious University of the Arts London. Petrilli has been commissioned for magazines (most recently, her work accompanied a rather depressing piece about suicide in Oprah Magazine), children's books and has had several solo exhibitions. Her illustrations also served as one of the inspirations for fashion label Delpozo's fall 2016 collection. However, it seems that Petrilli prefers to remain out of the spotlight. She has no website, Tumblr or Instagram. The only social media platform she uses is Pinterest, and she uses it to highlight "illustrations made for my personal joy, without bosses, and even publishers …only for my pleasure." She has granted only two interviews and her work has been discussed in just two brief articles that I was able to find online, and they're either in Italian or badly translated, so I'm not sure how much of it I'll be able to use. As we know, relying on Google more often than not results in nonsensical translations, but I will try to decipher everything as best I can. It's a shame she's not as willing to put herself out there as much as some artists are, because I'm dying to know her thoughts on working with Clé de Peau and her own approach to makeup. The few photos I was able to find of Petrilli show her seemingly barefaced save for one.
Anyway, onto her work. I won't pretend that I can explain it or provide any real insight, but here's a brief description. Many of Petrilli's illustrations depict ethereal, brooding women occupying dreamlike landscapes and interiors, often with animals. As with other Surrealist imagery, the scenes are odd and even a little unsettling at times. Most of the women appear melancholy and isolated; they seem to be alone even when other figures are included. Perhaps one is meant to be the real self and other figures/animals are a projection of her innermost thoughts and feelings, or in true Surrealist style, a representation of the unconscious mind. These women contrast with those in the Clé de Peau collection, who seem to be peacefully relaxing within the magical realm of Wonderland.
While she started out painting, admiring the Renaissance frescoes of her native Rome and using the techniques of the Old Masters, Petrilli found that digital illustration best suited her interest in creating surreal images. She describes how her artistic journey and search for her personal style was shaped by her upbringing in Rome as well as the birth of her daughter: "Ever since I was a child I lost myself in the images of illustrated books and I was completely fascinated…Taking a course of classical studies and helped by the fact that I live in a city, Rome, immersed in antiquities and ancient splendor I have always had a passion for the history of art, with a predilection for certain representation and historical periods including one on all the surrealism…I was helped by the birth of my daughter, to keep up with her or put aside my commercial work, and I found myself spending a lot of time alone me and my computer. Prior to that I drew and painted especially with the classical techniques especially acrylic, oil, watercolor, pencils, and I used the digital as a compendium…I began to realize that I could convey in a fast and effective manner the ideas that came to me all the time. And I began to compose images like this for my simple pleasure of them without a purpose or aim at something…Digital manipulation was the element that allowed me to give it life, mixing, overlapping and painting my creations and have become increasingly personal." In looking at her work, it's hard to believe these images are created digitally. I could easily mistake them for paintings given how seamlessly the individual elements, strange though they might be, are combined. When I think of digital art my mind immediately jumps to collages. Not that there's anything wrong with that – I love me a good collage – but I imagine them to resemble cutouts jumbled together rather than the smoothness of paintings. In the illustration below, for example, I feel as though I can practically see brushstrokes on the fish, and the transparency of the women's fingers also appear to have been rendered in paint.
Petrilli is particularly enamored by birds because "their eyes fascinate me for that sense of primordial concern emanating", or translated another way, "To me they communicate a sense of primordial restlessness.” Whatever the meaning of that may be, here are some of my favorite avian-themed works by the artist.
Stylistically, I'm seeing many different artistic influences in Petrilli's work. Her appreciation for the Renaissance art she grew up with is exemplified in a variety of ways, such as the clothing her characters wear, use of perspective and generally muted background colors. This one in particular reminds me of two Renaissance paintings: da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine (both the woman's hairstyle and the position of her hands holding the bird look similar) and Piero della Francesca's Montefeltro Altarpiece, which has a pendant egg suspended in the background. (Obviously there are entire books on symbolism in Renaissance and Surrealist art so attempting to go into more detail on my humble little blog would be a fruitless effort, but you can start with thesetwo if you're so inclined. There's also a veritable goldmine of books on women and surrealism, which are relevant given Petrilli's focus on portraying women.)
Other surrealist artists may have influenced Petrilli. In Hypnosis Double, the way the women are posed call to mind Frida Kahlo's Two Fridas. And while the deer seem unharmed, perhaps they're a nod to The Wounded Deer.
I'm also seeing a resemblance between Petrilli's work and that of contemporary Surrealist Christian Schloe. As a matter of fact, doing an image search I thought some of his works were Petrilli's.
Despite these similarities, I'm not implying Petrilli's work is in any way derivative. Her content and style are unique and deeply personal; the way in which she weaves together a variety of art history styles and techniques breathes new life into digital illustration and reflects her own individual artistic upbringing and training. Another reason I think Clé de Peau made an excellent decision to commission her for an Alice in Wonderland inspired collection is that Petrilli has explored it before. Below is Alice's Dream, along with other works that have the same motifs as the Clé de Peau collection: flamingos, keys, butterflies, flower-women hybrids, and a checker-printed floor. Again, I'm sure there are hidden meanings in these but that's just way too much ground to cover here.
In conclusion, I'm massively impressed with both Petrilli's work and the Clé de Peau collection. This year the company took a chance by exploring a more whimsical theme and succeeded thanks to Petrilli's imagery, which is a far more refined and elegant representation of Alice in Wonderland than any other makeup collection I've seen. As I mentioned earlier, I absolutely adore the cutesy treatment used by other brands since it reminds me of my childhood, but this was a nice change of pace and obviously suits a luxury brand like Clé de Peau much better. I just wish I could have heard a little more from Petrilli's perspective about working on the collection.
What do you think? What's your favorite illustration out of these?
